The Incentive of fear
by SunrunnersFirebird
Summary: Through fear and bullets and bombs and fire, the lives of four people are changed forever. HouseXCSI Xover. HC and GSR. Sara and Camerons POV
1. Chapter 1

**The Incentive of Fear**

**A/N: Hello my people, my fellow travelers of the fictional world (and my fellow obsessers over certain TV shows LOL). I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your reviews on past stories. My most popular story (One thing After another) lost a lot of readers because I didn't update quickly enough, this one I promise to do better on! (But please be patient, I'm in school so I got a lot on my plate). Here is my next story. I don't intend to make this a particularly long one, (four chapters or maybe one or two more) and the first few chapters may be rather boring. But please, I ask you to struggle through it, it's gotta get worse before it gets better!**

**P.S if this story seems sort of out of character, please note that I meant to write it that way.**

**Summary: with fear and bullets and bombs and fire, the lives of four people are changed forever. House-CSI X-over, some GSR and HC, hints from "way to go" and "half wit." Cameron and Sara's POV.**

**Disclaimer: ah… If only…**

**Chapter 1 (Sara)**

"I'm not exactly sure how long it's been." I said as I spoke on the phone with my old friend in New Jersey.

'Give it a guess' Ali replied on the other line.

'I seriously have no clue.' I said with a laugh to my voice. I hadn't spoken to Ali for many many months now, and I was ecstatic to be able to see her again. See, a few days prior, Grissom had called me into his office to say that he'd be going away for a few days, I had smiled and nodded, but I didn't like the idea. Since Grissom and I had obtained a closer relationship than the "boss/employee" affiliation I was so used to, I had decided that I didn't really like being alone so much any more.

'Where to?' I'd asked him.

'New Jersey' he'd replied 'It's a Forensics teaching Seminar, there is also a Doctors teaching seminar going on in the same place.' He had then smiled slightly up at me from his desk. 'I get to stay in a five star hotel and pretty much everything is paid for.' He held up a plane ticket, then held up a second one 'I need a partner' he said. My face broke into a wide grin.

'You want me to go?' I'd asked, Grissom nodded

'Why not?' he'd replied.

And that's where I am now; I'm busy packing my bags for the long plane ride to this seminar.

'Whatever' Ali said snapping me from my thoughts. 'Did you get that present I sent you?'

'Yes I did' I replied as I swept over to my closet. I pulled out a long white plastic bag, like what clothes from a really expensive store would come in.

'I have no idea where I'll ever wear it though.'

'Bring it to Jersey with you.' Ali replied

'Why?' I asked

'Ah, you never know' Ali spoke with a tease in her voice.

'What aren't you telling me?' I teased back as I carefully folded the bag into my suitcase as the final piece and clicked it shut.

'Nothing, but you never know.' She replied. I rolled her eyes as I set my clothing bag next to the two others at the door. One was smaller and contained such things as my books and toothbrush and the third was a single-shoulder-strap bag that I used for my carry-on items. At that moment there was a knock at my door.

'Oh that's Grissom' I said, I've got to go, you'll meet us at the air-port right?'

'Of course' Ali replied 'I haven't seen you in five years, I wouldn't miss that reunion for the world.' I grinned

'Great' I said 'see ya.' And hung up the phone. Grissom knocked again and I pulled open her green door. 'Hi' I said quickly.

'We've got to go, the plane deports in half an hour.' Grissom said as he reached down and picked up my clothing suitcase.

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**(Cameron)**

'I want you to go with him, be his partner for the teaching seminar and make sure he doesn't scare off every student there' Cuddy was saying, I sat poised in a chair across from Cuddy's desk, House was standing in the corner twirling his cane around in his hands and rolling his eyes.

'Well I'm not sure if I can assure that, but I can at least assure you that there will be one or two people left by the time were finished' I said

'Well that's good enough.' Cuddy leaned back in her chair and looked at House, he had been unusually silent. 'You haven't said much.'

'Nope' House replied watching his cane swivel around between his palms.

'Aren't you going to make some complaint, or some snide comment?'

'Nope' he said again

'Why not?'

'Because I'm looking forward to going.' Both of us turned around to look at him as if a second head had suddenly appeared on his shoulder.

'What?' Cuddy said quietly.

'I don't want to teach annoying brats about the artistic talent it takes to diagnose illness, but I'll have fun scaring them half to death with detailed explanations of flesh eating diseases. I'm halfway across the state so no clinic duty, and I get to spend the whole time in a swanky hotel with my sexy coworker.' I narrowed my eyes at him.

'Okay' Cuddy said with a sarcastic ring to her voice as she looked back at me. 'I'll give you the rest of the day off to go and get ready.'

'Thank you' I said as I stood 'I have to go to the air port.'

'How come?' Cuddy inquired

'One of the CSI's flying in from Vegas for the Forensics seminar is an old friend of mine and I was going to meet her at the air port.' Cuddy nodded

'Have fun' she said as I strode from the room, not even bothering to look over to House.

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**(Sara)**

As soon as we disembarked the plane I immediately started to look out for the familiar red hair and brown eyes.

'Sara!' Grissom shouted as the two of us moved towards the luggage carrousel 'wait up.' He caught my arm 'where's the fire?'

'An old friend of mine is meeting me here' I said as I strained to look over the heads of the throngs of people. I thought I saw a glimpse of red hair and called out instantly

'Ali!'

'Yes' she replied right in my ear. I gasped and jumped. I did a full 360 in the air before coming face to face with my oldest and closest friend.

'Ali!' I said again

'Sara!' she replied and we threw our arms around each other each seemingly attempting to strangle the other one.

'You look so good!' I said drawing back to look at her. Her once red hair was now chocolate brown, shorter and cut differently and her face looked so much different, more mature in a way. Then again they hadn't seen one another in a long time.

'So do you' she said, flicking a strand of hair from my eyes. I grinned down at her.

'Still short I see' I said teasingly

'Still a giant I see' Ali quipped right back. The two of us laughed like schoolgirls as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and herded her over to where Grissom was standing.

'Grissom this is Alison Cameron of the Princeton Plainsburough Teaching Hospital in Jersey, Ali this is Gil Grissom of the CSI headquarters in Vegas, and our resident entomologist.'

'Pleased to meet you' Grissom said, always the gentlemen.

'You to' Ali replied taking his outstretched hand and shaking it. Sara could tell she was sizing Grissom up. Seeing if he was right for her best friend. As the three of us moved towards the doors, Ali and I arm in arm, she leaned into me and whispered in my ear. 'He certainly is handsome, I'll give him that' I couldn't help but smile, she'd always been so critical of men.

**Boring chapter, I know, but if you can hold out it WILL get better. Reviews are appreciated. Criticism, help, ideas, praise, corrections… everything that's anything is highly appreciated. Thanx! **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: please note that I made several things up for this chapter; so don't go rushing off to Jersey to see this magnificent Hotel because I doubt that it actually exists. And I'm real real real sorry this took so long I've been on vacation and staying at my grandma's house so no internet access. **

**Chapter 2 (Cameron)**

The hotel certainly was "swanky" as House had put it. The three of us walked in through the front doors, Sara and I still arm in arm with the Silent Grissom lagging just behind. I could sense that he knew we needed some catch up time and seemed content with carrying bags and observing everything around him in this city. I immediately respected him for that. He seemed very much the right man for the, slightly hermit-like, Sara.

The two of us moved up to the front desk where a whole crowd of Criminalists and Doctors stood awaiting their room keys. As we stood in line Sara leaned over and said.

'This place is huge!'

'Third biggest hotel in Jersey' I replied. I knew this but I'd never been here before and it was magnificent, like something from the set of _Phantom of the Opera._ It had high vaulted ceilings and elaborate paintings and sculptures all around. The floor was made up of marble slabs with plush red carpet making walkways. There was a sitting area around a large fireplace with winged armchairs and claw footed sofas. And this was just the main entrance. The hotel also consisted of two ballrooms, enormous dinning rooms, as well as hundreds upon hundreds of individual rooms.

'Ladies' said a male voice that yanked me from my thoughts. Sara pulled me up to the front desk where a pimply teenaged boy stood; he looked as if they had hired him on as a desperate last minute resort before the flood of doctors and CSI's came in.

'Where here for the teaching seminar, I'm a doctor and these two are Criminalists.' I said, I continued to give him the information he needed. He finally handed over two Passkeys' to Sara. She slipped one in her pocket and handed the other one back to Grissom. I received only one; as soon as I opened my mouth to ask about it the pimply boy spoke.

'You're fiancé already came and got his key, rooms 205 and 206.' He didn't say anything about fiancés sleeping in separate rooms.

'Fiancé?' Sara asked me wide eyed,

'Fiancé!' I repeated, I looked over at Sara 'I don't…' I paused and looked over at the boy. 'Thank you' I said and herded Sara away. The three of us reached an elevator and stepped in, with the amount of people there, it was a shock that we got it to ourselves.

'I _do not _have a fiancé' I said sternly.

'Then why…' Sara started

'Because my partner for the seminar is a jackass that's why.' Sara looked at me ludicrously 'don't ask' I said 'you'll find out soon enough.' Sara didn't push it any further. She just smiled her gap toothed smile at me. She'd had that smile since we were kids.

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**(Sara)**

Ali and I parted and went our separate ways after she let Grissom and I off the elevator. The two of us strode down the hallways, each one falling exactly into stride with the other. We passed door after identical red door until we finally came across two with brass numbers on the front that read 123 and 124. Grissom pulled out his passkey and read the number.

'124' he said and looked up, he slipped the passkey into the slat in the door handle, there was a click and he easily opened the door. I followed him into his room before going into mine. It was gorgeous. The room was huge with an en-suit bathroom sitting area and kitchenette. It was painted and furnished in warm colours and the Four-poster bed had more pillows than I could count.

'Nice' Grissom said simply as he dropped his bags on the crushed velvet couch by the fireplace.

'Well that's the ultimate understatement' I said looking around in awe, Grissom merely shrugged, he was the king of understatements. I fell onto the bed and curled up in the nest of pillows while Grissom began to unpack his things and place them in various drawers and cupboards in the large wardrobe.

'I can understand Ali and her partner having separate rooms, but why don't we share one. Less money that way.' I suggested, Grissom looked over his shoulder at me, that boyish smirk on his face.

'Ecklie's paying why would I want to save any money? I intend to have room service every other night, order the lobster at dinner…' I smiled and laughed slightly as he spoke. He moved over to the edge of the bed. 'And I expect you to get a spa treatment while we're here, and you and miss. Cameron to go shopping… anything we can do to waste money.' I laughed a bit harder now; it was good to see a more playful side of Grissom. I always knew it was there, just very hidden away, and it was a rare and special occasion when I got the chance to see it.

'Oh don't worry' I said resting my hand on his face 'Ecklie will be bankrupt by the time we get back to Vegas.' Grissom smiled at me and kissed my hair before going back to his clothes sorting.

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**(Cameron)**

I slipped my key into the door and stepped into the outstanding room. I smiled as I stepped over the threshold but froze in my tracks and my smile vanished. There sitting on the couch with his feet up on the armrest was House.

'Fiancé?' I asked slamming the door and storming into the room.

'Good afternoon' he said sarcastically.

'Fiancé?' I asked again throwing my carry-on bag at him. He caught it and tossed it to the floor.

'Only way to get a key, you have the reservations under your name.' He paused 'I'm not sure he believed me.'

'Oh gee I wonder why?' I said sourly as I ditched my other bag on the floor by the wardrobe.

'Because I'm to ridiculously handsome and charming for you?' he guessed, not moving as I came around to grab my carry-on.

'Because you're a cranky old man with a gimp' I shot back. I bent to retrieve my bag and felt a sharp smack across my rear. I jumped and looked at House who was lowering his cane. I stared at him.

'I couldn't help it' he said with a shrug 'it was to easy.' I rolled my eyes and moved over to the wardrobe, well out of Houses reach.

'Go away, you have your own room' I said.

'Yeah but in that room there is no Cameron to irritate.' I heard him get up off the couch, immediately my senses perked as I awaited him to do something to make me mad. I continued to hang my clothes in the wardrobe. House made his way to the other side of the room. The mini bar, of course, glancing over my shoulder I pulled out a white plastic bag and hung it quickly in the closet.

'What was that?' he asked

'What was what?' I replied innocently.

'That bag you just put in the wardrobe?'

'Nothing' I said, making a move to shut the doors. He was up behind me in a flash. He stuck his cane out to prevent the door from closing.

'What it is it?' he asked again. He was right next to my ear this time.

'Nothing' I repeated, turning around to face him. I stared up into those piercing blue eyes, they looked frightening when they were only an inch or so away. 'Nothing' I said again and made a move to close the door. He caught my arm and pushed me away from the door. He pulled it open and looked at the white bag.

'A dress' he guessed looking at me.

'Yes' I replied slipping between him and the wardrobe and slamming it shut.

'Can't wait to see you in it' he hissed and limped toward the door.

'Jerk!' I called,

'I know' he replied as he shut the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: this chapter will get less interesting. Sorry, need to set the scene. Keep reading though!!!**

**Chapter 3 (Sara)**

Somehow I didn't even manage to get to my room until the next morning. Tired from the flight, slightly jet lagged, and hungry Grissom and I ordered a Chinese dinner from room service and sat by a fire eating fried rice and egg rolls. We chatted about everything from philosophical discussions to cases we'd worked to how much money we could suck out of Ecklie. I always had a good conversation when Grissom and I got chatting. It was a rare thing though. Only when it was just the two of us and we had lots of time, and when you worked as a Criminalist in one of the top labs in the country, those were both luxuries we never seemed to get much of. So, while I swallowed the last of my vegetarian Chow Mien, I decided I was going to pump this next week for all it was worth. I was going to enjoy as much _us _time as I could. Whether "us" meant Grissom and I, or Ali and I, it didn't matter. I wasn't going spend this week alone.

'Here' I said as I snapped a fortune cookie in half and pulled out the slip of paper. 'Enjoy the good now because in the near future there will be incredible misfortune.' I read aloud 'well that's not to cheery.' I passed the cookie to Grissom as he read mine.

'Keep your friends close by and be open to someone new that may seem out of place.' He handed the cookie to me as he raised his eyebrows. 'Well neither of those sound particularly uplifting' he stated bluntly. I shrugged as I munched on the sweet crunchy cookie

'It's a fortune cookie' I said 'it isn't the end all and be all of the future.'

'True' Grissom replied with a smile.

The conversation from then on in was deep and so good that I didn't even remember half of it. We fell asleep together on the four-poster and didn't wake until 8:30 the next morning. I hustled over to my room to dress for the day.

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**(Cameron)**

We went down to the dining room at about quarter after eight. I practically had to drag House kicking and screaming down there. But he seemed quite content now that we were seated around the fancy dining table drinking coffee. I had told Sara and Grissom to meet us there at nine o'clock. I checked my watch as House entertained himself with spinning a fork around on the table. It was 8:59, I looked up and saw Sara's familiar tall frame striding towards us with a grin on her face with Grissom falling exactly into stride with her. He was only about six or seven inches taller than her and, like Sara, almost all leg so their strides were pretty much the same. Grissom had a very observant look about his face. Whenever he walked in somewhere new he always looked like a kid in a candy shop. He would stare around as if he were trying to absorb every possible detail from his surroundings. Sara pulled out a chair and plunked down in front of me.

'Hi' she said.

'You're punctual' I stated as I sipped on my coffee. Grissom moved up to the table. 'Oh' I said 'Mr. Grissom this is Dr. Gregory House, and vice versa.' I gestured between them.

'Just call me Grissom' He said glancing over at me. He extended his hand towards House 'hello' he said politely. House stared at his hand for a moment then vaguely saluted with one finger.

'Hi' he said. Grissom dropped his hand and sat down across from him. As he did a skinny woman who looked to be barely 20, came up to the table smiling broadly. I vaguely wondered if this hotel had snatched up as many kids to fill in as many spots as they could before the Seminar got there. Between this chipper young woman with a black braid hanging down her back, the pimply boy at the front desk and the blonde girl helping people haul luggage to their rooms that I had shared the elevator with on the way down to the dining room, it was beginning to look that way.

Hello' she said brightly. I saw House flinch, he hated anyone being happy around him, it was like his poison. 'I'm Ella and I will be your server for this morning.' She spoke in a way that made me think she had memorized this little speech when she woke up this morning. 'May I suggest our special today, the Sunrise Breakfast which is two eggs done any style, two strips of bacon or sausage, two pieces of toast or waffle or pancake?'

'I'll have that with bacon and white toast please' I said as I handed my menu over to Ella. I noticed Sara flinch out of the corner of my eye. I smiled at her 'Still vegetarian?' I asked. Sara nodded, I looked back to the waitress 'Minus the bacon from it please' I said. Sara shook her head

'No don't…' I held my hand up and Sara fell silent. I thought maybe she had given up on being a vegetarian, but as I could see, she hadn't and I decided that it would be polite not to eat meat around her. Like I had always done. Grissom ordered as did Sara then the Waitress looked over at House.

'And for you?'

'The meat lovers breakfast' he said 'with over-easy eggs.' As Ella walked away I reached over and smacked House across the arm.

'Hey!' he said 'I'm your boss, that's not a good idea.'

'You are such an ass!' I said.

'What?' he asked innocently, 'I'm a meat lover with all that nice tender meat and sometimes with the blood still running from the steaks…' I could see him observing Sara's reaction out of the corner of his eyes. I glared at him.

'So when is your first class?' I asked snapping Sara's attention back…

'What?' Sara said looking around to me.

'Our first one is on Tuesday.' Grissom said, filling in the answer to my question for me. Sara shook her head and shot her thanks at him through her eyes.

'What about yours?' She asked

'On Tuesday as well' I replied.

'It's Sunday' Grissom said 'I wonder why none of them are tomorrow.' I shrugged. At that moment a middle-aged man in a suit approached our table.

'Good morning' he said in a cheery voice. He passed each of us a white card. They were invitations. As I opened mine a check fell out onto my placemat.

'These are invitations to a Ball tonight. That is why the classes don't actually start until Tuesday. We have given you each 1000.00$ to spend on an outfit for the ball and please note that an appearance with your partner for the classes is mandatory.' He smiled pleasantly and strode away. Surprisingly both Grissom and House had the same look on their face. _I don't really want to do this. _I leaned across the table and whispered in Sara's ear.

'I told you the dress would come in handy.'


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: this chapter will have pieces that will be both Cameron and Sara's POV put together. The same thoughts and ideas. Just wanted to warn you. P.S, sorry for the long wait, the website wouldn't let me add new documents for some reason! any of ya'll out there have the same problem??  
**

**Chapter 4 (Sara)**

I had never been more scared in my entire life. I had faced up to jury's, judges, I had been alone in a room with serial killers and sent out to be bait for a rapist, but I don't think my nervousness had ever overcome me the way it did tonight. I stood at the doors to the Hotel ballroom with Ali on my arm.

'Don't stress' she said 'just relax, you look stunning!.'

'I feel weird' I said as I stared at the doors.

'Well you don't look it' Ali replied.

'You look better than me' I said. And She did. She wore a long red dress and strappy black stiletto heels, the dress had a low back and a slit up the leg that went right up past her knee. Her hair was pulled back in a roll at the base of her neck with bits of hair pulled out to frame her face. With red lipstick and black eyeliner to top it off she looked like a rock-star. My dress was gorgeous, too gorgeous for the plain old me to wear. It was a silver bodice that pointed down in the front, laced up the back and had no shoulders straps, it led into a long silver skirt that rested in soft satin folds around my ankles and spread out like a flower is I spun hard enough. Ali had done my hair in cornrows to the pointed part of the back of my head then curled the rest of the hair in ringlets. It was a nice hairdo that took and hour and a half to finish.

'I can't do this Ali' I said.

'Bull' she replied as she pushed open the doors and shoved me inside. I looked over my shoulder to snap at her but she had already disappeared into the crowd of dressed up people. I took a breath and began to walk. I was still getting the hang of these heels, but if I made it down the few stairs to the main area where the dance-floor was, I'd be okay. If she was lucky Grissom will have decided not to come. No such luck. Grissom was sitting at a table away from the crowd with a glass of wine. As I approached I saw him look at me in surprise. I held up a finger.

'Don't you dare laugh' I said 'I'm self conscious enough in this dress.' Grissom looked me up and down and I suddenly felt as if I were wearing nothing at all. 'Stop it' I muttered.

'You look absolutely gorgeous' he said. I smiled slightly and went to sit. He caught my hand and stood up 'let's dance' he said. I stood back up and suddenly felt bad because I towered over him in those heels. He did his raise-one-eyebrow thing. And smiled sheepishly.

'I can't move in them anyway' I said. I sat back down and pulled the shoes off so that I had bare feet peeking out from under the hem of the beautiful dress.

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**(Cameron) **

I approached the table that House was slouched at. He was dressed in his usual way, a shirt and blazer; the only difference was that he wore black slacks instead of a pair of jeans and a tie. His cane was leaned up against the table as he stared at me with his typically wild blue eyes. A rather roguish smile appeared on his face

'You should dress like that more often' he said.

'Oh yes this dress and these heels would be great for taking rectal swabs and diagnosing patients who are bleeding from every Orpheus' I fired back. House looked shocked as his pulled himself to his feet.

'Well you would look hot while doing it. By the way, very witty come back' he smiled at me 'you have learned well.'

'Oh goody' I said 'what do I win.'

'A dance?' he suggested. I was immediately shocked, I had seriously expected to sit around all night and drink champagne, the only dancing I thought I would be doing, if any, would be with Sara. I nodded and we moved out onto the dance floor.

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**(Cam/Sara)**

The two of us danced together with them for two songs straight. It was perfect. We spent most of the night with their eyes glued to us as we swayed together in time to the music. Occasionally we caught one another's eyes and would give each other a nod or wink of encouragement before falling back into stride with them. We moved slightly closer as the music flowed through the ballroom. They tightened their grip around our backs, and suddenly we feel like the most beautiful women in the world…

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**(Sara)**

I rested my head on his shoulder and let myself relax into the rhythm. It felt like the night would last forever, and then it happened. With a snap like a whip the music was cut short, the moment broken and the orchestrater fell to the floor dead. The ballroom went deathly silent and then dissolved into abrupt chaos. Grissom tightened his grip around my waist and pulls me away from the people frantically racing for the exits in swirls of coloured skirts. I saw a flash of red and immediately called out before I could think about it.

'Ali!' I shouted

'Sara!' She shouted back, she reached towards me. I latched onto her hand and tugged her free of the panicking crowd. 'What's going on?' Ali asked

'I don't know' I replied. Three more bangs erupted.

'We can collaborate on that later, lets get out of here!' House snarled. The four of us moved with the rest of the crowd towards the exits. We pushed our way through with a little help from House whacking people with his cane (cruel, I know), only to appear at the door and come face to face with three men dressed in black from head to toe. With wicked grins they pressed automatic rifles up to our faces and forced the whole crowd back into the ballroom. I felt the cold metal bump up against my forehead and instantly began to back away from it like the cold had branded me. I looked around me, everyone had fallen into silence and they were all backing up towards the center of the dance-floor. Men in black with guns closing in from all sides, followed. Finally the men lowered their guns and all was quiet for a moment before a booming voice came over the microphone.

'Everyone in this Ballroom with lay on their stomachs face down. NOW!' and every one of us did.


	5. Chapter 5

**Heh heh, sorry, I guess this story is gonna longer than I thought it would be. **

**Chapter 5 (Cameron)**

'Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen' He said in a sickly smooth voice. I couldn't see his face, all I could see was a person draped in black pacing around the stage and speaking into the microphone. 'We, as I'm sure you have discovered, are terrorists.' He paused 'the situation you are in is really on a need to know basis, and sadly, you don't need to know, but the long and short of it is that you are being held hostage, and you will remain that way until our demands are met.' He stared around at us. 'Now, this doesn't have to be painful, for any of us, in fact I would rather not hurt any body, but I won't think twice about it if I feel I need to.' His voice turned sinister for a moment then regained its sickly pleasantness. 'Now, I want all of you to hand in any weapons or means of contact to the outside world.' He stared at us as his men began to move among us with big black garbage bags 'I don't like this, every body get up.' We all did. I sprang to my feet with everyone else in the room. When the men were finished collecting all cell phones, palm pilots and beepers they retreated to their stations at all three of the entrances and the man moved the microphone up to his mouth again. 'Enjoy your evening.' He said and dropped the microphone on the stage and strode away. Everybody tentatively began to separate off into little groups.

'Come on' I heard Sara say. I looked at her for a moment then followed her and Grissom to a corner away from the crowd. House followed quietly, he picked up his cane from the table as he went and the four of us settled into the corner.

'What is this?' what do you think they want?' I asked clinging to Sara's hand like a little girl.

'I don't know, I really don't' she said. At that moment a tall robed man sidled up to us, both Sara and I pulled away.

'Sir give me your cane' he ordered looking pointedly at House.

'What cane?' he asked as he twirled it between his palms, my instant thought was, _he is going to get himself shot and killed. _The man glared at him in a menacing way, House glared right back. 'I mean come on' he didn't even blink, as he spoke 'you wouldn't part a cripple from his cane would you.'

'Prove it' the man spat 'prove you're a cripple and I might relent.' House let out a breath through his nose

'I could…' he said. There was a click of metal and I suddenly had a gun pressed up against my temple.

'Ali' Sara whispered. I saw House flinch; he actually flinched for my safety. I think.

'Fine if you're going to be like that.' I watched him as he rose to his feet leaning on his cane more than usual. I knew what was coming.

'Your faking' the man said

'Am not!' House shot back. We had a few other people in black watching us suspiciously now.

'You're leaning to much.' The man said, I had seen that coming a mile away.

'I always lean like this… I'm a cripple!' House retorted. We had gathered quite a group now.

'Give me your cane.'

'No'

'Give it to me!'

'No!' and then it happened. In a movement so quick it shocked all of us, The gun was removed from my head and in one swift movement there was a bang and Sara's scream, it was muffled by Houses roar of agony as he crumpled to the ground. I moved to his side instantly and reacted quickly, covering the wound with my hands. It had just skimmed the outside of his thigh, but it was his bum leg, so that made the pain magnified to twenty times what it would normally be. The cane fell to the floor with a clatter; I reached over and picked it up. I whipped my arm back and threw it as hard as I could in the direction of the man in black. It flew past his head and just missed him by an inch or so.

'Go fetch!' I spat; he swooped down and swung his fist back striking me so hard in the face my eyes fell out of focus and he knocked me back. I lay on the floor dazed for a moment.

'Cameron' House yelled smacking me hard on the cheek. I shook my head and my eyes came back into focus just in time to see a bare foot swing out of nowhere and catch the man in the chest knocking him onto his back. His head bounced with a crack on the marble floor.

'Don't you touch my friend!' Sara growled as I pulled myself to my feet. House allowed Grissom to help him up. There was a moment of shocked silence before the other men bent down over their fallen ally.

'She knocked him out!' one of them said. I saw Sara scurry back but not quick enough, one person grabbed her and swung her around holding her tight to his body and pressing his hand up against her throat. Grissom and I leapt forward and two other men in black tackled both of us.

The brawl that followed was ugly as Sara struggled out from the grip of one of the men while the rest of us fought with the rest of them. House got smacked in the head and this sprang him into action. With one well-aimed punch he knocked out one of the men as I took another hit to the face and Grissom was trying to get Sara, who was being held by another man in black. It was then the gun went off, all fighting ceased immediately.

'Now' said a sickly smooth male voice, 'What's going on here?'


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 (Sara)**

'He refused to give us his cane sir' the man in black said.

'But I see you hold a lady hostage.' He smiled at me, his yellow teeth soiling his otherwise handsome face. The man pushed me away, hard. I tripped on the hem of my dress and stumbled forward, Grissom caught me by the shoulders and pulled me protectively close. He looked down at me, his eyes obviously asking if I was okay. I nodded, it seemed to be enough, but he still didn't let me go, I was okay with that though. I glanced around him and saw Cameron standing close to Dr. House with her hand on his arm as he leaned on his left leg more than what I had seen him do before. His jaw was clenched and he looked as if he was trying desperately not to collapse right there, at least the bleeding had stopped. The leader of the men in black looked at us.

'Now, you see' he said pleasantly 'that' he gestured to Dr. Houses leg 'didn't need to happen, you made it happen by being uncooperative.' I saw his eyes slide from Dr. House over to me then over to Alison, my brow furrowed into a frown. 'Now I might be willing to let this slide, that is, I might not kill any of you…' He trailed off there; he stared at us for a moment longer then spun around to face the rest of the gawking people in the ballroom. 'Let this be a lesson to all of you. For your own good, COOPERATE!' he shouted the last word with such force that everybody flinched. He turned to his men, 'Jackson!' one of the men stepped forward 'you did good my friend, what'll it be, Tall and spicy or small and sweet?' a horrible smile spread across his face as he moved forwards. Grissom and I stepped back away from him and I saw Cameron do the same, shockingly I noticed Dr. House sift his weight to conceal her more. I was so busy being astounded at this act that I didn't even notice the man in black until I felt Grissom push me back another step. We walked into the wall with a bump. I stared up at him for a moment when suddenly he reached out and grabbed me hard ripping me towards him before Grissom had time to react.

'Sara!' I heard Ali cry out, both her and Grissom jumped forward at the same time as the man dragged me away. I struggled and kicked, but to no avail. I watched Cameron and Grissom being held back by the other laughing men as He pulled me around a corner into a shadowed entryway. He pushed me back so I was pinned between him and the wall, he snaked his greasy fingers down my back and I felt him pull on the ribbons that tied the strapless dress to my body. I began to fight again.

'Be gone!' I heard him bark suddenly, a man in black protecting the doorway ran swiftly by. He turned his attention back to me. 'Where were we?' he asked, I felt the back of my dress begin to fall open, I tensed and closed my eyes, I could smell his foul breath…

CSIHOUSECSIHOUSECSIHOUSE

**(Cameron)**

House's usual expression of pain was amplified to twenty times the strength as he leaned against the wall rubbing his leg. Dr. Grissom looked very strange, I had begun to get used to that boyish observing look he had on his face, and this blank scared look was something a little frightening to me. I paced, it was all I could do, a man had come from the entryway that Sara had been dragged off to and he was now guarding us, to ensure we didn't try any rescue attempts. I tried to think what I could possibly do. I paced then stopped and stamped my foot like a child, I sat down on the floor and looked at House.

'I don't know what to do!' I said, not expecting him to say a word, he did. His face broke into a smile as he looked up over Dr. Grissom's head, Grissom followed his gaze. House then looked down and over to our guard, the smile grew brighter still.

'You want to get your girlfriend back' Grissom glared at him, but that observant spark suddenly flared to life behind his eyes. I was all ears, 'And I know, how to escape.' He looked pointedly at me 'it'll take a little sacrifice on your part though. I sighed

'Why am I not surprised' I said, House merely smirked.

CSIHOUSECSIHOUSECSIHOUSE

'Up for something small and sweet?' I purred in his ear, he wheeled around and grabbed my shoulders with rough callused hands.

'I have orders' he replied curtly.

'I know, but doesn't it bother you that your coworker gets a girl…' I leaned close to him so that my lips were next to his ear, I tried not to breathe through my nose 'and you don't' I finished.

'Are you not scared of me?' he asked

'Oh, I am' I hissed 'and I love it.' I forced back my gag reflex and kissed him as deep as I dared, allowing my hands to travel down his chest. He kissed me back so that I was almost choking, he held me tightly, refusing to relinquish his power over me. I felt the butt of the gun against my wrist and almost flinched it took me a moment to get my hand wrapped around it, but when I did I pulled it sharply from his belt, and pressed it against his side.

'Don't think for a moment that I won't shoot you' I growled, he stared back at me with a glare so vile I thought, if looks could kill, I might have disintegrated right there on the spot. He was suddenly pulled away from me as House Tied his tie around the man's mouth. I tossed the gun to Grissom who caught it and pointed it at the mans head. He said nothing, but his face showed more than he could have possibly said, full of repulsion, hate and anger.

'Cameron' House said, I moved over out of the line of fire, as I did I caught Houses looked, he looked at me with a sort of pride that I had never seen him bestow on anybody. I smiled despite of myself. House turned away from me and nodded to Grissom. In one swift movement he moved the gun away from our hostages head and out to his side in one hand. He stared down his arm and over the barrel of the gun and shot, his arm barely flinching from the kickback, I couldn't help but think that, in that split second, he looked like James Bond. The chaos erupted immediately. People began to scream and that one shot had a domino affect as several others were fired off in succession to the first.

'Come on!' House barked and all three of us moved as quickly as we could without being spotted to the entry way.

**(Sara)**

As soon as I'd heard the shot a vision of Grissom lying dead on the floor crossed through my mind, followed by one of Ali. The man didn't leave me, he just pushed me to the ground, and I hastily tried to retie my dress. I was in shocked relief when I heard his voice.

'Sara! Duck!' I did so immediately and just in time because the moment I did a bullet rocketed past where my head hand been moments ago and collided with the mans chest. Before he could retaliate, he was dead, falling to a lump on the floor in a pool of blood. I resisted the urge to throw my arms around Grissom like a Child, but merely stood to meet them. Ali looked relieved and Dr. House just looked annoyed. I smiled slightly as I held the back of my dress closed.

'Are you okay?' Grissom asked 'what happened?'

'Nothing… like that' I assured him 'I'll be fine.'

More shots were fired and running footsteps approached us. Dr. House wheeled around and came face to face with the tiny frightened figure of a little girl in a pink dress. She bumped into him and stumbled to the ground falling into the dead mans blood. She screamed and leapt to her feet. Ali and I ran to her side.

'Shh, it's okay' I cooed 'It'll be okay.'

'Where is your family?' Ali asked as she tried to calm the crying child.

'I've been… been… hiding since my dad…daddy died' the girl sobbed.

'Who's your Daddy?' I asked quietly

'The… the music man.' Ali and I looked at one another with wide eyes, the orchastrater, the first person to go down.

'Where have you been hiding all this time?' Ali asked, the girl gestured vaguely to the entryway.

'Oh my god' I gulped suddenly feeling like I was going to vomit. I tuned away from the girl, suddenly ashamed of what she'd seen. Grissom took my arms and steered me away.

'What's the matter' he asked

'I can't believe what I made that girl see!' I choked almost crying myself.

'I thought you said it never got that far…'

'It didn't but still…' Dr. House cut me short.

'Can we get a move on please!' he shouted 'before the distraction dies down?'

'She's coming with us!' Ali said

'Fine! Lets go!' the five of us moved to the door pushing it open with a bang.

'THEY"RE GETTING AWAY!' came a shout. Three shots were fired two of which pinged off the door. Ali the little girl and I all screamed as we ducked out

'NO!' Ali screamed as the little girl she had in tow screamed and choked falling to the ground. She was dead, they'd hit her. She moved to go back in, but Dr. House was surprisingly quick as he grabbed her around the waist and practically threw her out the door.

'Barricade it!' Grissom shouted

'Sidle!' get us the elevator!' Dr. House added. I ran over to the elevator and slammed my hand down on the button as House and Grissom moved a huge palm in a heavy clay pot in front of the door.

'Help me Ali!' I screamed as I ran to a large wooden desk. She snapped from her daze as she and I moved in and leaned it up against the door. There was a ding and the elevator doors popped open. The four of us jumped inside and shut the doors. We went up one floor then House pressed the red emergency stop button. With a jolt, the elevator came to a halt.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

**(Cameron**)

The silence was long. We stood looking at one another for a moment before sinking to the plush carpet of the elevator sighing in relief. We all glanced at each other with a slight look of accomplishment in our eyes. We'd made it this far. I glanced over at Sara, she was sitting with her back to Grissom while he quietly and carefully re-laced the back of her Cinderella Dress.

'Now what?' I asked breaking the silence.

'We go up' House said

'We go down' Grissom said at exactly the same time. The men looked up at each other their blue eyes boring into one another, they'd locked horns once again.

'They'll expect us to go down' House said 'they'll bee waiting for us.'

'But if we go up, we're trapped at the top of an 28 story building' Grissom shot back over Sara's shoulder.

'Once we get up there, we call the cops'

'I'm sure they would have thought about that and shorted the phone lines' Grissom replied

'They didn't think about the elevator though!' House argued relentlessly.

'We'll do both' I heard Sara say. Grissom and House's eyes moved from each other and to Sara, I watched Grissom's eyes soften, but Houses eyes didn't change.

'Both?' I asked, prompting her to go on.

'Ali you remember doing this don't you? We'd push all the buttons and make people stop at every floor?' she said, I smiled and nodded, I remembered doing that once, we'd gotten in trouble with security though. It had been an interesting day.

'We'll do that, get off on one of the floors and send the elevator up, then we'll take the stairs down.'

'They'll figure out that we would get off at one floor or another though' House said

'You said it yourself, they didn't think to short out the elevators, they can't be _that _ coordinated.' I replied 'and if it gets to the penthouse, we'll be well on our way.' She looked around for support, I nodded.

'It could work' I said, she smiled in relief that I agreed with her.

'It could' Grissom added. We all looked at House. He stared around at us for a moment then at last nodded.

**(Sara)**

We got of on the fourth floor so there weren't so many stairs to go down and sent the elevator on its way. The four of us scurried as fast as we could towards the staircase door and pulled it open. We stood in the doorframe for a moment looking down at the ominously dark staircase before at last making our decent.

Grissom went first; he stepped onto the dark landing and began moving down the stairs. I followed and House and Ali brought up the rear.

The decent was slow and pained as House tried to keep up, leaning heavily on the handrail. I kept close to Grissom as we moved down. The hair on the back of my neck stayed up the whole way, I felt as if we were being followed, I knew someone besides the four of us were in this stair well.

'Stop!' I finally hissed when the anxiety became too much. Grissom looked around at me as Ali and House stopped behind me. I looked around 'we aren't alone!' I said. House clapped his hands to the sides of his face in mock surprise.

'Really!' he said. He turned to look at Ali and gasped fakely 'Oh my god! It's hideous! It's Cameron' She sneered at him.

'I mean besides us!' I snapped at him. And it happened. In a sudden flurry of movement a dark shadow flew down the stairs past us and slugged me in the side of the face. I stumbled over my dress and clutched my face as more men-in-black swarmed around us. There were about five in total…

**(Cameron)**

A man came and swiped his leg out like a ninja knocking my own legs out from under me. I yelped in surprise and automatically grabbed at House's arm as I fell, forgetting about his bum leg.

'Cameron!' he barked as he lost his balance. The two of us tumbled down a few stairs and landed on the next landing. I crashed down on my back as House landed on top of me. He tried to catch himself and I was now staring at him as he hung over me one arm on either side of my head. I stared into his ice blue eyes that were now uncomfortably close.

'Are you okay?' I finally choked out as all my breath had escaped my lungs in the fall.

'You mean other than the fact that I have just probably screwed my leg up even more, yeah I'm fantastic.' He stroked my face 'you broke my fall' he teased. I rolled my eyes and pushed him off, suppressing how much I liked the feeling of that gentle touch from him. Sara and Grissom were trapped. They were surrounded from all sides.

'I hate these guys!' I shouted and without stopping to think I grabbed hold of the guardrails and jumped up thrusting me feet forward as hard as I could. I felt rather than heard the sickening pop as my stiletto heel punctured through the mans spine. He was dead in an instant; he fell to the ground as I wrenched my heel out of his back. House looked at me for a moment as if he couldn't believe what I was doing. Just then a second body was pitched past me, flying down the stairs and landing in a heap on the landing…

**(Sara)**

As soon as the first man went down, I spun around to avoid a fist to the face and as I ducked I saw a second fist swing over my head and nail the guy hard enough in the nose to send him keeling over backwards and flopping lifelessly down the steps. I looked up and saw Grissom standing there with his brow creased and breathing like a winded bull. I stood up quickly as the last three men closed in. I spotted something that caught my attention. I smiled as I bolted forwards. I launched myself off the balls of my feet and landed on top of the man. I reached down to his hip and pulled off the cane.

'HOUSE!" I shouted, he whirled around as I tossed the cane at him, he caught it

'Cheers!' He shouted back before swiping it hard through the air like a practiced martial artist and knocking one man in the side of the head. Losing my concentration the man caught me by the arm and threw me off him; I slid the last few steps down the flight and caught myself at the bottom. Ali was at my side right away, pulling me to my feet. The two of us stood holding each other as House and Grissom blacked out one of the last men, pushing him over the railing. Grissom wheeled around, and the shot went off.

It echoed loudly through the empty stairwell, mingling with the scream I suddenly realized was my own. I caught and held Grissom's gaze as the front of his white shirt slowly began to turn red, I heard Ali whisper "no" in my ear as he fell to his knees…


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I guess this story turned out to be a heck of a lot longer than I thought it would be. Oh well. Hope you're enjoying it thus far!!!**

**Chapter 8 (Cameron) **

Sara raced to his side catching him by the shoulders as he fell. He clutched his chest as he collapsed. Sara fell with him holding him tight and pressing her hands tightly up to the bullet wound. I moved quickly over to them to be b Sara's side, I didn't see the final shooter, but House did. He was hidden at the base of the stairs, draped in shadows, as he aimed his gun he stepped forward. I was snatched out of the line of fire quickly. House grabbed me roughly around the waist and pulled me sharply back as he raised the gun. The bang went off right by my head, temporarily deafening me, House didn't take the kickback as well as Grissom had, knocking his arm back and up, but his aim was dead on. With a horrible choking sound the final shooter fell from the ground. I clung to House's shirt like a damsel in distress in some action movie as I watched the man go down. I glanced around his body and spotted Sara bent over Grissom desperately trying to keep him awake.

**(Sara)**

'Grissom!' I begged 'please, don't go.' He was struggling to stay awake. But he managed it. He lay on his side trying to keep himself awake; his normally clear thoughtful eyes were clouded and pained. The front of my dress was soaked with his blood as I tried to stem the bleeding. I sat close to him with one arm around his shoulders and the other hand pressed firmly against his chest. He held my wrist tightly, very tightly, almost to the point where I was losing blood circulation, but I didn't care about me right now.

'Grissom, come on! We have one flight of stairs, we've come this far don't you break on me now' I commanded trying desperately to force the shake from my voice. He slowly reached a shaking hand up to my face, he hesitated but I leaned into him, bring his hand close to me, not caring about the blood right now. He stared at me for a moment, his face etched with pain, but his clouded eyes determined.

'I'm not going anywhere' he said quietly. I smiled as I took his hand and ducked beneath his arm so it was draped over my shoulder. I never took my hand away from the wound on his chest, I expected Ali to come rushing up and catch Grissoms other arm. I was shocked when it was House who came to help Grissom onto his feet. I stared at him for a moment, my eyes wide, I met Ali's gaze, she was just as shocked as I was.

**(Cameron) **

The trek down the final flight of stairs and out the back door was short, but slow and precarious. However, at long last we made it out into the cool night air of freedom. I had the sense to pick up one of the guns on the way out, so I scurried ahead and took lookout as House, Sara and the Half dieing Grissom hobbled along behind.

He couldn't breathe as we walked, I could hear it, he was gasping and choking as he tried to get air in and out of his lungs, I knew that sound, and I feared the worst. We walked and walked for what seemed like kilometers, never coming upon another open store that we could use a phone at. And at long last I heard the choked, gasping plea.

'S… stop' Grissom choked out "I can… cant breathe' I turned around just as House and Sara slowly lowered Grissom to the sidewalk, he leaned up against a tall line of hedges as I came up to them. House looked over at me, I could see in his eyes, the same inkling that I had.

'Your dress' House said, Sara looked up at him in surprise, but I knew what he meant, I sat down on the ground and pulled off one of my heels, pulling the dress taught with one hand, I stabbed the heel through the satin fabric and pulled it along, ripping a jagged piece of red cloth from the hem of my skirt. House balled it up and handed it to Sara.

'Press down when he breathes in, release when he breathes out.' Sara nodded as I stood; I looked at House and gestured for him to follow me. He rose to his feet and followed me a few paces away.

'I have to go find a phone' I said defiantly.

'Not in the middle of the night with terrorists on the loose.' House replied

'Why not?' he ignored the question 'look' I said, I lowered my voice so that Sara wouldn't hear 'you know as well as I do, that with sucking chest wound like that, Grissom hasn't got long to live, we have to get him to hospital, its blocks and blocks from here, I have to call an ambulance.' I kicked off my shoes to that I was barefoot and kicked them off the curb. 'I'm going.' I turned on my heel to go but House gruffly caught my arm and pulled me back. "House…' I started in Irritation, but never got further than that because he spun me into him wrapped his free arm around me back and kissed me. I so shocked for a moment I did nothing, but slowly and as carefully as I dared I started to kiss him back. It was deep and passionate as my hands slid up the side of his face, I thought to myself; nobody had the ability to kiss like this more than once in their life. Then as quickly as it had started, it ended, he pulled away enough to look into my face, I stood there trying to catch my breath.

'There's a Seven Eleven down a few blocks, they're open twenty-four-seven.' He said, I blinked blankly a few times trying to clear my head 'go' he said I stared at him 'GO!' he commanded pushing me away. Suddenly it clicked, right I had a man to save. And before I could think about the kiss any more I turned on my heel and ran, pounding the pavement away from House, Sara and the Dieing Grissom.

**(Sara)**

'Where is she going?' I asked as I tried to help Grissom breathe.

'She went to find a phone we can use to call the hospital.' House replied as he sat down next to Grissom.

'We can walk… it can't be that far'

'It is' House replied

'But…'

'Sidle!' he barked sharply 'you are the most stubborn person I have ever met, and I know her!' he jutted a thumb in the direction Ali was running.

'I'm trying to keep him alive!' I shouted back to him, he held his composure as he responded

'Then you'd best check on his breathing.' I looked down and my heart leapt into my mouth. Grissom was lying on the sidewalk with his eyes closed and his face pale, almost to the point of being tinged with purple.

'Grissom!' I breathed as I leaned over him, I felt a pulse under my fingers, but I didn't feel him breathing. 'No!' I pushed him over onto his back and tipped his head back pinching his nose and pressing my lips to his breathing out. I left my hand on his chest and felt it rise slightly as his lungs filled with air. I took in a breath for myself and tried again breathing out hard as I tried to bring him back. I felt the tears spring into my eyes; I couldn't let him die on me, not because of me. I took in a rattling breath and breathed for him again. I was beginning to feel dizzy from lack of oxygen, but I didn't care, I shook my head trying to clear the cobwebs as I tried again. and again, he wasn't going to die. 'Come on!' I snapped at him as I took in a short breath and breathed into him. I felt all the oxygen rush from my body and my head finally had enough. It needed it's own oxygen. I fell back; blinking several times I took one last breath and tried again. And to my relief I felt him cough slightly and take in a ragged breath of air. My head spun wildly before I slid down into blackness. I heard him gasp and call my name as I fell. The last thing I saw was House reaching over and taking the wad of fabric sealing Grissoms wound as my hand slipped away.


End file.
